Mark Brodie & The Beaver Patrol - The Shores Of Hell (1995)

Opening with the sectionalist anthem "Frogs Can't Surf," Canada's Mark Brodie & the Beaver Patrol go on to double-pick their way through a varied, authentic, and fun instrumental surf album.

Captured with a bare minimum of studio effects, Mark Brodie et al come across with the spontaneous energy of a live show, but with a clarity of sound not often heard live or on old surf records. The packaging is very 60s, and borrows from the "Living Stereo" logos used on classical and experimental electronic recordings at that time, offering an interesting speculation about what those Chantays records could have sounded like if they, too, had been utilising the breakthrough stereophonic technology of the early 60s.

The Beaver Patrol make no attempt to update the surf sound, and attack the genre with reverence rather than modernist irony used by other contemporary surfers like Man or Astroman. Still, even with the trademark reverb, double-picking, and guitar runs used as break beats, the the album is remarkably good: a wide variety of tempos differentiates the 16 songs, the occasional toy organ brings other 60s garage styles to mind (the Pacific Northwest's Kingsmen and Wailers, in particular), and all the musicians display great talent for surf music. The percussion on tracks like "Theme From the Old West" is especially deft and original.

For fans of Dick Dale et al, The Shores of Hell sits very comfortably next to the original masters of the genre. It is a rare piece of nostalgia that manages to transcend its derivative origins and add flesh to old bones.